


You don't do laundry during the Apocalypse

by CastielMorningstar



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Bed-Wetting, Gen, Good Sibling Vanya Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Number Five | The Boy Whump, Omorashi, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:41:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25187338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastielMorningstar/pseuds/CastielMorningstar
Summary: The apocalypse left Five with a lot of scars that replay when he falls asleep, and after a night filled with fitful sleep and too many cups of coffee, he awakens to wet sheets. He tries to deal with them alone but ends up bumping into Vanya who can't sleep.
Relationships: Number Five | The Boy & Vanya Hargreeves
Kudos: 136





	You don't do laundry during the Apocalypse

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Umbrella Academy fic so go easy on me. I also haven't finished the show yet, I have 2 episodes left so if there are any inaccuracies that's why. But this is supposed to be set after the lab blows up.

Those years seemed to drag on and on forever.

The countless hours spent alone, with only Dolores for company and his own thoughts. The amount of time he longed to be back home in his bed, with his siblings, safe and looked after. He had to grow up and live the last of his childhood and teenager years alone surrounded by smoldering ash, having to eat whatever burnt scraps he could find in order to survive.

He wished he’d never stormed out of that house, insisting to his father that he could time travel, that he was ready. But instead all he’d done was ruin a large chunk of his life and make himself miserable.

Yes, he supposed he had an advantage leaping into the future like that, so that he could attempt to save the earth from its planned doom. But so far all that had happened was destruction, death and flames which were really only the start of the ones to come. He felt like he’d failed. Like he’d gone through all of those struggles just to end up with the whole world ending anyway.

Sleeping felt like a waste of time, so Five rarely did it anymore, both because he felt he needed every second to prevent the world from ending, and also because every time he closed his eyes all he saw was the looming destruction to come. The crumbled buildings. The ashy sky. The fire.

But the most horrifying images were those of the dead faces of his own siblings, mostly buried under rock and debris, their eyes hollow and empty, blood staining their skin and their once smiling mouths now expressionless.

Those images scared him the most, and Five wasn’t someone who got scared easily. He’d survived through the apocalypse aftermath alone at the age of thirteen, for many years. But still, despite having made it through, whenever Five remembered it he felt nothing but icy cold dread in his heart. Remembering the crushing loneliness, and then once he was found and recruited to The Organization, the guilt that tore at his heart with every person he killed, his soul feeling like it was being chipped away at piece by piece.

One night as he was trying to write down more equations to try and figure out how to prevent himself from having to see his family’s dead faces again, Five’s eyes started to close. He’d downed several cups of coffee in an attempt to stay awake, but finally sleep was gripping onto him and refusing to let go. So, without warning he ended up sliding down onto the bed, chalk still in hand, still fully clothed except his shoes, and passing right out.

He slept for a few hours, but most were fitful, full of flashes of what he went through, intermingled with fears of what was to come. His restless sleep was finally ended by a horrifying image of a meteor descending towards their house, about to smash it to smithereens…and then he woke up with a gasp.

Five sat bolt upright in bed, panting and quivering. It took him a moment to get his bearings, to get the images of destruction to stop flashing before his eyes. And then things didn’t get much better as he came to his senses and realized that something was wrong…very wrong.

“No….no no no-“he tossed his chalk aside and grasped for his lamp, turning it on with a click and then the horrors were revealed. “Shit- “

His navy shorts were now almost black with wetness which had spread all through his bed since he hadn’t properly been tucked in and had just been laying on top of his covers. “Oh fuck-“

He’d wet the bed.

As a child, Five hadn’t had the biggest bladder and unfortunately it seemed that problem was still present thanks to his annoyingly small body that he’d been crammed back into upon returning to his timeline. And apparently all of that coffee, combined with the horrifying images of his nightmares, had caused him to wet the bed.

It was beyond embarrassing and immediately Five froze and listened intently to make sure that no-one else was up and about, because if anyone found him like this he’d never live it down. He was an adult now, way older than his siblings mentally, he was supposed to have better bladder control than this.

Five groaned, finally pulling himself to his feet and assessing the damage, shoving the covers aside and groaning as he saw the wetness had leaked all the way through to his sheets, “For fucks sake-“ he grumbled as he set about stripping the bed, enduring the awful feeling of his wet shorts clinging to his skin because his priority was ensuring that the urine didn’t soak through to his mattress because then he’d really be fucked. He could change after that was dealt with.

Once all his bed sheets and blankets were on the floor, Five stripped out of his uniform and changed into to a pair of striped pajamas. He wanted to shower, but worried that would alert his siblings to the fact that he was awake and then they’d interrogate him and risk finding out about the ‘incident’. So, he ended up just using some baby wipes to wipe himself down instead, before picking up his pile of laundry and setting about sneaking to the laundry room to deal with it.

He was good at being quiet, but unfortunately that meant no powers. The flash of blue light and whooshing sound of him teleporting would be much more obvious than him stepping on a creaky floorboard. So he stealthily made his way downstairs with his pile of shame clutched in his arms, freezing and flinching when he indeed stepped on a creaky floorboard because of course. But he heard nothing and kept going. As far as he was aware, most of his siblings weren’t even here right now, which was good for him.

All was good and Five made it to the bottom of the stairs at last without anyone bothering him. He breathed a sigh of relief as he walked past the entrance hall and turned the corner to the laundry room, only to bump straight into Vanya. Literally bump. Which caused his urine-stained bedding and shorts to fall to the ground at their feet.

“Vanya!” Five cried, immediately scrambling to shove the items from sight even though he knew she’d seen them.

Vanya leaned down too and grabbed his shorts before Five could stop her, “Why are you doing laundry at 2am?”

Five grabbed for them, “W-why are you sneaking around at 2am?” he shot right back, being snarky to hide the blush blooming on his cheeks and the panic rising in his voice. Vanya was his favourite sibling, but even so he didn’t want her view of him to be tarnished by this.

“I couldn’t sleep so I just went for a walk around the house.” Vanya replied, looking down at the pile and then back up at Five who was avoiding her eyes, “Five, I’m not stupid. I may not have powers, but I know when you’re hiding something from me.”

The boy sighed heavily and fidgeted with the edge of his sheet, tapping his foot nervously against the wood floor, “I-“ he swallowed, “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t even mean to fall asleep, and then the nightmares and I drank lots of coffee and-“ he was cut off by Vanya placing a gentle hand on his shoulder and he slowly looked up. He may have been the older sibling technically, but he definitely felt like the youngest right now.

“Five it’s okay.” She squeezed gently, “You’ve been through a lot, I don’t blame you.” She lightly tugged on the sheets, trying to get him to give them to her, and because he was so tired, emotionally and physically, Five let her take them.

He just bowed his head in shame as she opened the door to the laundry room and Five trailed after her, “You better not tell anyone.” He grumbled, still trying to put on a harsh front to hide his vulnerability; it was something he’d had to get used to in the apocalypse world because crying and feeling sorry for yourself didn’t solve anything.

Vanya just gave a gentle smile, “I won’t Five. This will be between us two only, promise.”

And oddly enough Five believed her. He just nodded and watched as Vanya started to set about putting the items into the washing machine.

“You don’t have to do it for me.” He insisted, trying to retain any bit of dignity and independence.

Vanya raised an eyebrow and turned to him, “Alright. You know which setting to put it on right? And the water temperature?”

Five blinked, “Uh-“no was the answer to that but he was too proud to admit it. Leaving home at 13 to live in a world where clean clothes only came from stealing from department stores, meant he had no idea how to do laundry. “No-“he finally admitted.

“It’s okay to ask for help sometimes Five.” Vanya assured as she turned the dials on the machine and poured a liquid into a little tray in the machine. Five watched closely, taking note of what she was doing so that if he ever needed to wash his own clothes, or heaven forbid sheets, again then he’d know what to do.

Five just shrugged in return, still embarrassed even if Vanya had assured him it was okay and wasn’t mocking him. He was grateful that it was her of all people who had found out, because he was certain any of his other siblings would have made a mockery of him.

As if he sensed that thought, suddenly Klaus waltzed into the laundry room without warning, making Five jump in surprise; he was on edge because of everything, anxious of being caught and apparently they had been.

“Heyyy it’s Fivey and Vanya!”

Five breathed a sigh of relief as soon as he heard his brother’s voice. He was clearly high off his ass and wouldn’t remember this in the morning.

He just raised a hand in awkward greeting, hoping to seem as casual as possible to make the chances of this being forgotten higher.

Vanya just sighed and shook her head disapprovingly, shutting the washing machine door and standing in front of it as it whirred to life.

“Why are you doing laundry so late?” He asked as he slumped against the door frame, his eyes just focus enough on Five who was trying his best to act casual.

Since he’d been away for awhile, Five didn’t have as much experience with intoxicated Klaus as his other siblings did, so he wasn’t quite sure how to handle this. But thankfully it seemed Vanya did, even though Five doubted she’d spent a lot more time with him than he had.

“I couldn’t sleep, and neither could Five. He came down for coffee and spilt it on himself so we’re just washing his shorts. My sheets were due a wash too, so I stuck them in there too.”

Five was impressed with how easily Vanya seemed to lie to Klaus, while gently nudging him out of the laundry room, and he easily let himself be led out in a graceless trudge. “Ah okay, that’s fun.” He seemed to accept it and Five felt relief wash over him as he watched Klaus stumble to the couch and collapse onto it, passing out in a matter of seconds.

He sighed heavily in relief, then glanced to Vanya as she looked to him, “Um…thanks.” He said awkwardly, rubbing his neck, cheeks tingling with heat again, “For…all of that.” He didn’t want to mention specifics and remind them both that Vanya’s technically 60-year-old brother had wet the bed.

Vanya gave a small smile, “No problem. You are my brother after-all. And the only one who doesn’t seem to resent me for that book.”

Five shrugged, “I don’t care about the book really. I mean I get why the others are pissed but you were just an upset kid, they shouldn’t be so hard on you.” He fiddled with his pajama sleeve then cleared his throat, “Well…I should head back to bed…get a little sleep before trying to stop the apocalypse again y’know.”

But before he could leave, Vanya was stopping him, “You might want these.”

He turned around and watched her return to the laundry room and emerge with clean sheets and bedding, “Oh…right.” He forced a smile and took them, “Well…goodnight Vanya.” He started p the stairs, treading carefully to avoid creaking, then turned back as he reached the top and actually managed a small, genuine smile, “Thanks.”

Once back upstairs, Five quickly made his bed back up again, used the bathroom even though he didn’t need to go, then collapsed back into bed, pulling the covers to his chest and closing his eyes. The apocalypse could wait for a few hours while he got some sleep. And he did, without any unexpected interruptions this time.


End file.
